There is often a racial or ethnic component to police abuse cases in New York City, with many incidents also fueled by language barriers and miscommunication in the diverse city.30 In the CCRB's January - June 1997 report, African-Americans and Latinos filed more than 78 percent of complaints against the police, while 67 percent of the subject officers were white.31 A NY1 News local television channel poll released in February 1997 found that 81 percent of blacks and 73 percent of Hispanics believe police brutality is a serious problem in the city.32

Racial tensions were exacerbated after the August 1994 shooting of an undercover officer Desmond Robinson, an African-American, by white off-dutyofficer Peter Del Debbio during confusion after a shot was fired on a subway train.33 Del Debbio allegedly thought Robinson was involved in a crime because he had a gun; Del Debbio reportedly shut his eyes and shot, hitting Robinson five times, including two or three shots that allegedly were fired as the wounded officer was falling or on the ground. Del Debbio was convicted on second-degree assault charges.34 Minority-group activists claimed that the shooting demonstrated racial bias because the white officer assumed the black officer was a criminal.

On June 13, 1996, another racially charged shooting, this one fatal, led to protests in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.35 According to press reports, Aswan Watson, an African-American, was shot eighteen times by plainclothes officers as he sat in a stolen car; he was unarmed. (Police later learned that Watson was wanted in connection with a murder.) The officers blocked Watson's car with theirs and approached his car with their guns drawn. Officers contended that he reached for something under his seat, and they believed he was reaching for a gun, and then opened fire; no gun was found. After the shooting, crowds of several hundred people protested through the night, and many protested during the following day. In May 1997, a grand jury declined to indict the officers.36 But it took the unusual step of making recommendations regarding training and supervision of plain clothes officers. Commissioner Safir responded by stating that most of the recommended measures were already in place; the department also released statistics showing a decrease in police shootings.37

30For example, the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) reports that are few officers who speak Chinese or other Asian languages, yet there are a million New York City residents of Asian descent.

33In another similar case in November 1992, African-American Derwin Pannel, an undercover transit police officer, was shot and wounded by three white police officers as he was arresting a turnstile-jumper in a Brooklyn subway station; the other officers allegedly mistook him for an armed mugger. Amnesty International, "Police brutality and excessive force in the New York City Police Department" (hereinafter Amnesty International, "Police brutality,") pp. 50-51.

34Clifford Krauss, "Subway chaos: Officer firing at officer, New York Times, August 24, 1994; Clifford Krauss, "Cop shoots cop, prompting questions of racism," New York Times, August 28, 1994; David Kocieniewski, "Officer shot in subway is arrested," New York Times, May 5, 1996.

35Charisse Jones, "Protesters dispute police version of a shooting," New York Times, June 15, 1996.